1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to portable game machines using portable game machine cartridges. In particular, the invention is directed to a portable game machine using a portable game machine cartridge having the ability to capture an image, the portable game machine allowing, the user to manipulate the captured image and to incorporate the captured and or manipulated captured image into a game that is being played on the portable game machine.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable hand-held game machines have been known for quite some time. Typically, these portable game machines include a hand held game machine housing a processing unit and associated hardware for running a gaming program, and include a display for displaying images of the game. The gaming program is typically contained in a game program memory, such as, for example, a semiconductor memory (e.g., ROM, EPROM, etc.) that is part of a removable cartridge. By storing the gaming program in a removable cartridge, the user is allowed to conveniently and easily change the game being played, by simply exchanging the cartridge with one containing a different game. An example of such a portable game machine is the xe2x80x9cGame Boy(trademark)xe2x80x9d product manufactured and sold by Nintendo Corporation, assignee of the instant application.
However, it will be understood, that conventional portable game machines of the type described above, can only execute the game that is contained in the game program memory of a particular removable cartridge. The images displayed during game play are limited to those that are contained in a memory of the removable game cartridge. While the images may change based on various inputs received from the user, these images are predefined and are not subject to any manipulation or variation by the user, other than those predetermined changes that occur based on the various situations encountered during game play.
Having only limited predetermined images available for use in a portable game machine restricts the ability of the user to enjoy the machine. It would be more enjoyable for the user to have a more interactive relationship with the game program and the portable game machine. To that end, what is needed is a portable game machine that enables the user to define, manipulate and incorporate images into the game being played. Additionally it would be beneficial to provide the user with the ability to capture images for use with a game, or even to merely store captured the images for use with various other features of the portable game machine.
Image capture and manipulation technologies are well known and exist in many forms. Typically, these image capturing and manipulation devices are very costly and are cumbersome to use, especially in the context of a portable game machine. For example, there are many different types of video cameras and digital still cameras available for capturing images. However, video cameras and digital still cameras are typically very expensive (especially as compared to portable game machines), and would not be used as a toy or game for children. It is also very complicated to manipulate the images captured by these devices, especially for use in a portable game environment.
There are also various computer based applications that provide a user with the ability to receive a digital image and to manipulate the digital image. There are also numerous computer programs that enable a user to draw an image or to create animation. However, as set forth above, all of these known image capturing and manipulation technologies are ill suited for portable game use, and are typically prohibitively expensive in the context of gaming applications.
To overcome the above-noted and other deficiencies of prior portable game systems, and to improve the enjoyment of portable game system users, the instant invention provides a portable game machine that includes a portable game cartridge incorporating a digital camera for capturing digital images, which is inexpensive and easy for children to use in a portable game environment. In addition, numerous features are provided that enable the user to easily manipulate the captured images and incorporate these images (manipulated or not) into the games being played.
Related co-pending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/026,804 filed Feb. 20, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, describes a portable game machine and portable game machine cartridge capable of capturing an image and processing the image as a still picture, to extend the range of use of the portable game machine for entertainment, thereby expanding the entertainment value of the system.
The instant invention provides specific features for use in manipulating and processing the captured image for use in the portable game system. Among the features described in the instant application are: hot spots; game face; animation and loops; panoramic picture taking and printing; and other image manipulation, including the use of doodling functions, such as, for example, stamp and paint functions.
In operation, the user of the portable game machine inserts the removable cartridge into the portable game machine. The removable cartridge includes a digital camera and associated image capturing and storage hardware and software, substantially as set forth in commonly assigned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/026,804. Upon starting of the game operation, the user will be given to option to select whether to shoot an image. By selecting the option of shooting an image, the display of the portable game machine will show a virtual View Finder Screen which shows the user the images being received via the digital image capturing apparatus of the removable cartridge. The camera lens of the image capturing apparatus can be rotated to change its image capturing direction (as will be described in detail herein). As the image is displayed, various functions may be implemented to create the desired image to be captured. These functions include brightness, contrast, sharpness, and the like. Other interesting functions, such as flipping the captured image with respect to a central horizontal or vertical axis may also be accomplished, thereby providing an upside down version of the image or mirror image, respectively of the image to be captured.
Once the user is satisfied with the image appearing in the View Finder Screen, the user may then capture the image by pressing the appropriate button on the face of the portable game device. The number of images that may be captured will, of course be limited by the memory availability associated with the removable cartridge. At the present time, it is contemplated that up to thirty captured images may be stored in the portable game cartridge according to the present invention. However, it will be understood that any number of images may be stored depending upon memory size. It is also envisioned that the captured images will be stored in, and retrievable from, a memory that may be displayed to the user in the form of a captured image photo album.
When the image has been captured, the user has the option of scrolling through the images captured in a check mode. When checking the images that have been captured, the display will show a Check Screen, as opposed to the View Finder Screen displayed when capturing an image. In the Check Screen, the user is provided with numerous options. For example, the user may choose to print the captured image on an associated printer that may be, for example, a thermal printer including paper having an adhesive backing, thereby allowing the user to make stickers showing the captured image. The user may wish to delete the image altogether. Additionally, the user is given the option to manipulate the image by doodling using predefined stamps, or drawing directly on the captured image. Another option may include associating a comment field with the image to provide a message or associate a sound with a given image. Other features include, for example, creating hot spots within an image to provide the user with the ability to jump to other images within the memory, to associate a given sound with a particular portion of an image, or to create an effect associated with the image, when the hot spot is found by the user; creating animations using selected captured images; and creating panoramic images using up to four captured images, to name a few. These functions will be described in summary herein.
Hot Spots:
A hot spot is generally defined to be a pre-selected portion of an image with which a particular function or effect is associated. For example, in a captured image, a user may create a hot spot associated with particular areas of the image, such as, for example, the nose, eyes, ears, mouth, etc. of the captured image. Once the hot spots have been created, defined and associated with a captured image, the hot spots will not be visible to players attempting to locate and uncover the hot spots associated with the image.
A user, or subsequent viewer, of the images having associated hot spots may then attempt to locate the hot spot using the cursor of the portable game device to see what associated effect is performed when the hot spot is discovered. When a hot spot has been located by the user, the effect associated with that hot spot will be displayed. Hot spot effects may include, for example, a sound effect, a visual effect or a jump to another captured image in the album of captured images. A sound may be any of a number of predefined sounds contained in the portable game cartridge. An example of a visual effect, is the changing of the viewed image to one that includes stamps or other doodles (see description below). A jump associated with the hot spot causes the portable game device change the captured image being viewed and to display another image, that is residing in the captured image photo album, defined by the creator of the hot spot. If the hot spot causes a jump to another image, if the new image has hot spots associated therewith, the user may attempt to find the hot spots associated with the new image. In a preferred embodiment, up to five hot spots may be associated with an image. However, it will be understood that any number of hot spots may be associated with a given image, but that the number of hot spots is necessarily limited by the available memory space associated with a given image.
Game Face:
Another feature of the portable game machine having an image capturing device is the use of game faces. Game faces are specialized captured images that are associated with the play of various games included in the removable cartridge. For example, in a juggling game, the game face may be included in the game to be the face of the juggler. According to the present invention, the game face images captured by the user are used variously throughout the playing of a game which uses the game face, and the particular game face image used at any given time during game play may be dependent upon the actions taken by the user in playing the game, or may be associated with a particular result achieved during play of the game.
According to the present invention, in capturing the game face images, the display view finder is divided into four quadrants. Each quadrant is a different part of the game face, and includes an entire captured image. It will be noted that the game face images are stored in an area of the memory separate from the photo album of captured images, and that game face images are specialized images for use in game play only. Therefore, game face images cannot have links, hot spots, comments, and the like associated therewith because of their specialized use in certain games. However, game face images can be manipulated by doodling using stamps and paint, and the like, with the images. Additionally, game faces may be created using the doodle feature alone, and without using captured images, per se. Thus, the game face may be an entirely created face using only the doodling tools provided with the game.
In operation of a given game, the game face sequence may, for example, toggle between two of the captured game face images. If any damage occurs, i.e., the image is injured or fails to successfully complete a portion of the game, another of the game faces may be displayed. For example, in the juggling game, while successfully juggling, the face of the juggler may switch between a first and second game face. If a ball is dropped, a third face may be displayed. Upon completion of the game, the fourth game face image may be displayed. It will be appreciated that any combination of game face images may be used in any particular event during game play, as defined by the designer of the game.
Image Manipulation/Doodling:
The images captured by the portable game cartridge may be manipulated in a number of different ways. For example, as described above, images may have hot spots associated therewith. Another example of image manipulation is the incorporation of stamps or painted doodles with a captured image.
Examples of doodling include the incorporation of predefined stamps or user created line drawings, e.g., paint. It is envisioned that the memory of the portable game cartridge includes, in addition to the captured image and game face memory space, a space for storing predefined images that may be copied for use in manipulating the captured images. The predefined images may include, for example, stamps that can be xe2x80x9ccut and pastedxe2x80x9d onto the captured images. For example, the stamps may include various exaggerated and fanciful drawings of eyes, horns, noses, glasses, mustaches, characters, and the like, which can be selected by the user to alter a captured image. These predefined stamps may be stored in a stamp album that is similar to the captured image photo album, but which is separate from the captured image photo album. Additionally, it is preferable that the predefined images of the stamp album cannot be altered by the user, but may be copied for use in manipulating the captured images.
In addition to stamping the captured image with predefined images stored in the stamp memory area, i.e., the stamp album, of the portable game cartridge, the user may also draw arbitrary lines or figures in the captured image using the paint function. By manipulating the buttons of the portable game machine in the appropriate manner, the user may draw lines of varying widths and shades in different areas of the captured image.
A captured image that has been altered using the doodling functions described above, may be saved in the captured image album in the same manner as any other captured image, and the images thus stored, may be used in any function in which normally captured images may be used, such as, for example, in hot spots or animations, as described below.
Panorama:
Another feature contemplated by the present invention is the provision of combining captured images to produce an image up to four times larger than one image that may ordinarily be captured. To take such larger pictures for subsequent printing out, the panorama function may be used. The panorama function may use a number of frames either vertically or horizontally to create a panoramic or combined image. In the instant example, up to four images may be used to form a panorama. Panoramas may be saved, but cannot be used with certain other features, such as, for example, hot spots, animations, and the like, because of the various linking information required to keep the panorama intact.
When shooting a panorama, a portion of the first frame may be used as a background for shooting the second frame, and a portion of the second frame may be used as a background for shooting the third frame, and so on to ensure proper alignment of adjacent frames that are used to form the panorama.
Panoramas are primarily used to capture images that are large, and which, therefore, cannot be contained in a single frame, and are typically printed out via a thermal printer onto paper that has an adhesive backing to form a sticker, or the like.
Animation and Loops:
Yet another feature contemplated by the present invention is the use of multiple captured image frames to create an animation. The animation may be made up of a logical sequence of frames to simulate movement, or may be any arbitrary sequential display of captured image frames. When the user enters the animation screen of the portable game display, various sequentially numbered frames of the animation may be defined by the user. The user may select a frame of the animation, and import to that frame any image residing in the captured image photo album or predefined stamp album. The selected image will be imported into a numbered frame of the animation. The number of the animation frame corresponds to the position in the sequence of frames to be displayed when the animation is viewed. The user may continue to assign various captured images from the photo album to various frames of the animation until the animation is complete, or until the number of available animation frames is exhausted.
As with other features described herein, the number of available animation frames is dependent upon the amount of memory available or assigned to the animation function. In a preferred embodiment of the instant application, for example, up to forty-seven frames may be used to create an animation. It is contemplated that the animation will be stored as a series of sequential pointers that point to selected portions of the various image memories corresponding to the images selected for the frames of the animation. This manner of virtually storing the animation frames reduces the need for a separate image memory to accommodate the animation function.
Once the frames making up the animation have been selected, the animation may be played in either a loop mode or a one-time play mode. In the loop mode, the animation will keep repeating until the user depresses a button requesting that the play be stopped. Otherwise, the animation will play only once. The animation may be edited or modified to change the frames, delete certain frames, or to rearrange the order of frames to be displayed. Additionally, a loop may be a subset of the animation frames that may be played repeatedly or a single time.
There are numerous other features that may be employed in the instant invention to increase user satisfaction and enjoyment. For example, trick lenses may be used to create mirror images, tiled images, combinations or montages, split screens and fusion or blending of different captured images. Any number of special effects known in the digital image art may be included in the portable game of the instant invention.